In recent years, biological catalysts such as microorganisms have been largely utilized for chemical reactions. For example, it is well known that nitrile compounds can be converted into amide compounds using a specific microorganism.
Examples of the process for such conversion are those which utilize a microorganism of the genus such as Bacillus, Bacteridium, Micrococcus or Brevibacterium (U.S. Pat. No. 4,001,081); Corynebacterium or Nocardia (U.S. Pat. No. 4,248,968); Pseudomonas (U.S. Pat. No. 4,555,487); Rhodococcus or Microbacterium (European Patent Application No. 188316 (laid open)); and Fusarium (Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. 86889/1989).
As described above, there are known some kinds of microorganisms having activity to convert nitrile compounds into amide compounds; it is, however, required to develop an improved process for production of amide compounds using a microorganism with improved efficiency.